Seven3Sports bags sub-licence for IPL in Pakistan, SL, Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: Sports media firm Seven3Sports today said it has signed a sub-licensing deal with Multi Screen Media (MSM) to broadcast IPL in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh till 2018 for an undisclosed sum.

"The deal was starting with this year's IPL and it will run till 2018. This year we had local broadcasting partners in each of these countries. Going forward we intend to have our own broadcasting capabilities possibly in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," Seven3Sports founder Jatin Ahluwalia said.

While IPL was not shown in Bangladesh earlier, it was beamed in Pakistan and Sri Lanka under separate sub-licensees, he added.

"Now we are sole license holders for these three countries from MSM," Ahluwalia said.

When asked about the valuation of the deal, he declined to comment citing confidentiality clause with MSM.

He said in the just concluded IPL6, over 375 million people across Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka watch the T20 league.

In 2009, Multi Screen Media and World Sports Group had signed as the official broadcast partners for the IPL in a fresh nine-year deal running through to 2017 for a whopping Rs 8,200 crore.